Friday, September 2, 2011

We Are Working On Something

Wanted to get it up today, but alas, a vodka fueled Vipers victory prevented that from happening.

The Vipers destroyed the Capitals, by the way. Ya'll should come out to the ballpark.

Anyways... the plan is to post what we had wanted to post on the weekend, ugh. Saturday, we guess.

We do want to say something about the Flames town hall thang, which we missed entirely (Go Vipers!). Feaster apparently said something to the effect that the second round pick that was traded to Buffalo was for a player, and not for the Sabres to take on Kotalik's salary.

This is retarded. And we are hearing that people at this little shindig actually bought the line. That illustrates the problems with the franchise right there.

There are fans of this team who enjoy eating bullshit. It makes no sense to us, but it was apparently on full display last night.

Let's go back and look at the trade. Regehr, Kotalik, and a second for Chris Butler and Paul Byron.

King/Feaster wants to peddle the fantasy that the trade was Regehr, Kotalik for Chris Butler, and then a seperate trade was us sending a second to Buffalo for Paul Byron. It is a fantasy because, for those of us who don't suck the organizations dick, this trade doesn't make any sense at all when you consider the return.

For those who enjoy eating the clubs bullshit, let us spell this one out for you: You cannot trade something for nothing under the new CBA. The trade was Regehr for Butler and Byron. The Flames were also told that Buffalo would be willing to take on Kotalik's salary, but not for nothing. Because the Flames can't trade Kotalik and a second round pick to Buffalo and get nothing back in return under the CBA, the trades were lumped together. This had the added benefit of allowing the club to continue peddling the fantasy we traded a second round pick for a player, and not to get rid of a player.

Honestly, if you do believe the trope that the club did indeed trade a second round pick for Byron, then we don't think you value picks properly. Paul Byron, 5"9, 170 pounds, has good numbers for the Q, but so does everyone. He then made the jump to the AHL. He took it by storm, boy: 124 Games Played, 40 goals, 46 assists, 86 points, -5, with 111 PIMS. In other words, the guy Feaster is implying can beat out one of Morrision, Backlund, Stajan, or Jokinen isn't very good at the AHL level. Furthermore, go look at his numbers last year. He is the second best centre on the team, for one, which isn't a great sign. A defenceman collected more points than Byron did, which again, isn't a great sign. He also managed to put up a paltry 123 shots, good for 7th best on his team, and he also shot 21.1%, which is not a number he can sustain in the AHL (the year before he shot 16%), let alone at the NHL level.

If we traded a second round pick for that guy, we humbly suggest we over payed. As a point of reference, the Ducks traded a second round pick for Cogliano, who may suck, but who also had four 82 game seasons in the NHL under his belt, and was 0.45 points per game (again, in NHL games). In other words, a second round pick should net your team a player who has shown an ability to play in the league, not a question mark.

(Again, just looking at this year, John-Michael Liles was also had for a second round pick. That is, a guy who has played over 500 NHL games.)

What is worse? That Feaster keeps peddling the fiction that the second round pick was not included in the trade as a way to get rid of Kotalik's salary, or the fact that he seems to be bragging about the fact that he traded a second round pick for what amounts to hope, sunshine, and unicorns?

The local Sports Media and the '03-'04 Fans are directly complicit in the suckage of the Flames Upper Management...I call it the Obama Syndrome. Although Obama is utterly inept and useless in his own right, his worst enemy right now is the MSM that carries all his water and jumps on top of whatever grenade that is thrown his way - although it looks good to Obama on the surface, it actually creates a false sense of accomplishment/worth. One becomes insulated from the "facts on the ground". Humans thrive under environments where we are forced to be at the top of our games and when we are held to be ACCOUNTABLE. There you go boys and girls - the word of the day is ACCOUNTABLE...there is no accountability for the Feast/K-squared. The media certainly doesn't hold anyone's toes to the fire, and the "Flames' Fans" showing up at last night's Circle Jerk to applause on cue actually sets the Franchise back another season. We have politicians to blow sunshine up our asses... the Flames need not apply for that role in our day-to-day lives.~fm

You missed the best one - that with Richards on their line, Tanguay and Iginla would each score 100 points in a season (also: so would Richards). The claim was so ridiculous I'm almost wondering if I heard it right a day later.

Seriously...none of those guys has ever eclipsed 100 points. The NHL had only a single 100 point guy last year (Sedin) and it's only because he has a psychic connection with his brother and plays some of the cushiest minutes possible.

So either Feaster actually believes this absurd fiction (doubtful) or he actually thinks the fans are stupid enough to. He might be right.

O/T...I went onto Calgary Puck tonite and tried following their thread covering the "Flaming Circle Jerk" last night - I got about 5 minutes in and my fucking head spontaneously exploded...my wife had to clean up the mess & then she kicked my ass. Thanks a fucking lot CP!

OMG Racist! A quick Google image search will validate my theory that Paul Byron is, in fact, a white guy. So now I'm intrigued as to where this is coming from. Are you implying that he's a nazi? Again, I'm lost.

Anywho, the only thing that irks me more than the idea that Feastmode is trying to convince us that the Flames traded Byron for a second round pick is the fact that taking Kotalik was worth as much as that second round pick. If it were a 9th rounder, let's talk.

The 100 points each quote had me fall off my couch in awe, bells went off in my head. I'm kind of on the fence with this fan forum thing. I like that the Flames put it on, as far as I know other teams don't. I like that they try to look accountable, I just wish they didn't pick the dumbest fans this organization has to ask the questions. I might blog about the Flames and question most of what they do, but I also rah rah them, and I have to try to be blind sometimes because they do have my support, and I have to pretend like I think they CAN make the playoffs. I just hate being rational in the face of all that.

I like how I am a racist because I oppose wahhabi flavoured Islam funded by the most open and tolerant state in the world, Saudi Arabia. I'm as big a racist as noted right wing extremist Chris Hitchens.

Tremon, if opposing anti-homosexual, anti-woman, anti-pluralist movements makes me a racist, I wonder what that makes you? Enlightened certainly does not come to mind.

I didn't hear all of the town hall so I missed this comment, but is my recollection way off or did Feaster not say at the time the deal was Regehr for Byron and Butler, and then the Kotalik with a second was thrown in so they would eat the cap space. Interesting to me that this story has changed since the draft.

If the deal was Byron for a second (aside from making the Regehr deal extra barfy) I think that is actually a defensible move. First, the Flames are going to need players next year. A second rounder in 2012 is not going to play next year. Also, a second rounder is a long shot. In the last 5 drafts (2010 - 2006) the number of players drafted that actually played in the NHL goes like this:

So really, Byron is already ahead of 19 of the guys drafted in the second round of his draft year. While he isn't a shiny ray of hope like a draft pick, I think it would be defensible to upgrade your current prospect cupboard for a guy with current NHL potential for a second rounder next year. That isn't even taking into account what it could do for Abbotsford's competitiveness.